The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower is a tower about eight miles from Landover/Graxboro. It is about ten miles off of King's Road, and has tracks leading to the door. In the time between 1431 and 1443, it appears to have been modified. Layout The outside of the Dark Tower appeared ruined in 1441 and 1443, but less so in 1431. There are battlements around it. In 1443, the door had the following riddle on it: :My first is foremost lawfully :My second spirals outwardly :My third leads all in victory :My fourth leads twice in nominee :My whole is what all people speak The first room of the Dark Tower is a hall containing twelve tapestries. These tapestries depict, in order, an army of orcs fighting something and then defeating it with four clerics bleeding from their eyes. The final tapestry is a series of infinite interlocking gears. In 1431, this room showed no signs of passage, and the tapestries had started to decay but were still legible. In 1443, there was mud tracked all across the floor, and the tapestries had decayed to the point where they were very difficult to make out. Nothing in the room was magical. There is a door to the next room with a well-made lock on it. The next room is a water trap which varied in the different explorations. In 1431, it had the letters "IX" on the wall. The trap demands that the victims "make six", which is done by drawing an "S" before the "IX". The ceiling of the trap room is actually an illusion. In 1443, the room had a magical ring on a chain from the ceiling; pulling the ring made an illusory wall slam down, separating the trap room from the tapestry room. The letters "IV" appeared on the wall, but no command was ever made. It was still a water trap, and the ceiling was still an illusion, but one that was incredibly difficult to disbelieve without first solving the puzzle. Above it is an enormous chamber. In 1431 it had an altar of filth. There has been a black dragon in this room at least once, in 1431, though there is no way the dragon could have gotten in or out barring teleportation or similar magic. In 1443, the chamber was empty of creatures and had an altar to Erythnul with a shattered obsidian sword on it. According to Ethan's research, this altar could be used to suck out parts of people's souls and graft them onto one's own in a horribly evil necromantic ritual. The floor of the room had an enormous mosaic of a six-fingered hand clutching lightning bolts, and nearby were three levers, color-coded red, green, and blue. Whether or not these were present in 1431 is unclear, because the party at the time was too preoccupied with the dragon. In Eon In about 1431 SA, a group of criminals and adventurers found the wreckage of a guarded caravan which had been melted away as though attacked by acid. A shield found in the wreckage had the symbol of Lady Elan. The group followed tracks to the Dark Tower in search of survivors or perpetrators. They entered the tower and explored it, but the inside appeared undisturbed. In the final room, they encountered a black dragon. A young Ashra agreed to be flung on top of the dragon, allowing him to extract its brain and kill it. Though he was already old enough to process memories from his victims, and the dragon was intelligent enough to form memories, its mind was completely blank. The group left the tower and did not tell officials about the wreck, though they did not make an effort to keep it secret and may have talked about it later. Five years later on March 1, 1436, Lady Elan and her son were killed in roughly the same location by a black dragon. The remains of the caravan, save for Ethan's corpse, were recovered by an adventuring party. When asked "Where did you find Ethan of Malvont after he died?" via Speak with Dead, Marcus Fairlan answered "The Dark Tower ... northwest Graxboro ... five miles off King’s Highway ... make six ..." Ethan later discovered that this was a lie; Marcus found Ethan in a ditch by King's Road. In 1443, the now grown Ashra led the Lone Gunmen to speedrun the tower on their way to Baldur City. They glitched through the puzzles using Wind Walk and Dimension Door, finding many inconsistencies with Ashra's memories. Much of her memory could have been modified by the Mother, though Marcus's corpse had inadvertently confirmed that the tower's water trap has said "Make Six" at least once, and the rumors that Ashra once extracted the brain of a dragon are widespread enough that it is likely not a private delusion. The party did not actually find the proper solution to any of the puzzles, and left after examining the necromantic altar because they were under time pressure and had to go save Claire in Baldur. Category:Locations Category:Dungeons Category:Baldur Category:Northern Continent